BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs - Presenters Desert Island Discs Presenters Roy Plomley Roy Plomley, the programme's creator, presented the programme for 43 years. Starting out as a stage and film actor, he began working in radio in 1936 as an announcer on Radio Normandy. Following a stint with International Radio, broadcasting from Paris and London, he began to freelance for the BBC in 1940. Although he also wrote plays, and presented other programmes such as One Minute, Please, he will be forever associated with Desert Island Discs. He wrote several books about the programme: Desert Island Discs (1975), Desert Island Picks (1982) and Desert Island Lists (1984, with his producer then, Derek Drescher). Michael Parkinson Michael Parkinson was asked to take the chair following Roy Plomley's death in May 1985. His first castaway, on 5th January 1986, was the film director Alan Parker. Parkinson, widely celebrated for his successful TV chat-show, had already himself appeared as a castaway on 19th Feb 1972.

Between 1986 and 1988, he presented nearly 100 programmes but by the end of 1987 he'd decided to move on. On 13th March 1988 he interviewed his final castaway - athlete Brendan Foster Sue Lawley Sue Lawley was well-known as a TV reporter, newsreader and presenter & had appeared as a castaway on 8th November 1987, interviewed by Michael Parkinson. Her first guest was Lord Hailsham (Quintin Hogg), who was castaway on 27th March 1988. Describing the role as “one of the best jobs in broadcasting”, Sue went on to interview a further 771 people from all aspects of public life including politics, entertainment, science and sport. On 27th August 2006, her final castaway was the actress Dame Joan Plowright, Sir Laurence Olivier’s widow. Kirsty Young Journalist and broadcaster Kirsty Young opened her tenure as presenter by interviewing the illustrator Quentin Blake on 1st October 2006.

Among her guests have been musicians Morrissey, Sir Tom Jones, Alice Cooper, and Barry Manilow, politicians Nick Clegg, Alex Salmond and Alan Johnson, actors Sir Michael Caine, Kathy Burke and June Spencer. In addition to Desert Island Discs, since 2008 she has been the presenter of Crimewatch on BBC One and has also presented the documentary series The British Family and The British at Work. Other Desert Island Discs presenters Two other people have presented editions of Desert Island Discs - Leslie Perowne, Head of Popular Record Programmes at the BBC, who interviewed Roy Plomley the first time he appeared as a castaway in May 1942. On the second occasion Plomley was castaway, in May 1958, he was interviewed by Eamonn Andrews. Strictly speaking, therefore, six people have presented Desert Island Discs over its sixty years, although only Roy Plomley, Michael Parkinson, Sue Lawley and Kirsty Young can genuinely be called 'Desert Island Discs presenters' in the accepted sense.

Desert Island Discs: Britain's longest-running radio show - Telegraph TV and Radio Desert Island Discs: Britain's longest-running radio show Joanna Lumley wishes she’d been asked if she can swim – and Roy Plomley ‘never was a very good interviewer’. Neil Midgley reports on Desert Island Discs' 70th anniversary. Roy Plomley, creator of Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, and its first presenter Follow It was a cold November evening in 1941 and, at his digs in Hertfordshire, Roy Plomley’s fire had already gone out. But despite the gathering chill, and the fact that he was in his pyjamas and ready for bed, Plomley sat down at his typewriter and wrote a pitch letter to the BBC. There could hardly have been a less auspicious beginning, and yet Plomley’s idea – “Desert Island Discs” – would go on to become the longest-running radio show in the country. Indeed next weekend, nearly 3,000 castaways later, Kirsty Young will present the programme’s 70th-anniversary edition. “It’s a very clever formula.

It’s an absurd formula, but it works,” says Sue Lawley, who – with 773 castaways under her belt – is the programme’s longest-serving host apart from Plomley himself. “In an ideal world, the music that the castaway chooses reflects moments in their life. And that therefore sheds light on people – in an ordinary journalistic interview, you wouldn’t know how to shed that light, because you wouldn’t know the questions to ask.” In 1958, soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf chose her own recordings as seven of her eight record choices; in 2009, despite producers’ well-known concerns that the song is a cliché, Michael Caine chose My Way. Lawley, who followed Sir Michael Parkinson in 1988, was only the third regular host in the show’s history. Plomley was a tough act to follow: he presented the show himself until his death in 1985.

When Sir Michael then took over, Plomley’s widow, Diana Wong, said witheringly: “I don’t think he’s civilised enough.” Her criticism was echoed by the BBC Board of Management, which worried that too many of Parkinson’s early guests were born in his native Yorkshire. Sir Michael lasted only two years and 96 castaways. But, he says now, the criticism had nothing to do with his departure. “I’d got other things to do,” he says simply. “The fact of the matter is, I never regarded it as being a career move.”And looking back, he has some equally choice words about the man who preceded him. “The thing about Plomley was, because he had been doing it so long, he’d become very, very bogged down in the job,” says Sir Michael. “Inevitably, 43 years doing the same thing, you’re not going to have the same zest. And he never was a very good interviewer. He took it for granted – it needed a change.

It needs that refreshing every so often, but the format will remain – it’s a wonderful format.” Related Articles Anna Ford: 'This may be my last interview' 18 Jan 2012 Young, who has been in the presenter’s chair since 2006, agrees. “For me, the programme’s strength lies where it always has – in the unique blend of a castaway’s life and their music,” she says in a special edition of Radio 4’s Archive Hour to celebrate the anniversary, which will be broadcast next weekend alongside the 70th anniversary edition of Desert Island Discs itself (featuring a record-equalling fourth appearance by Sir David Attenborough – a feat also achieved only by Arthur Askey). “At best, it displays the frailties and strengths of the human condition – how our creativity, grit and humanity can see us through.” Over the course of seven decades, in fact, the structure of the programme has changed hardly at all from the ideas outlined in Plomley’s original letter. Even that familiar lilting theme music, Eric Coates’s 1930 composition By The Sleepy Lagoon, was present for the first edition on January 29, 1942.

The idea of castaways choosing a book and a luxury alongside their eight songs is relatively new, though: it wasn’t added until 1951. And the BBC has moved on from its introduction to the first episode, which said that the castaway would be asked “which eight gramophone records would you choose… assuming of course, that you had a gramophone and an inexhaustible supply of needles”. The beguiling and flattering format has attracted politicians and pop stars, scientists and sportsmen. Sue Lawley alone hosted no fewer than five prime ministers during her 18 years as presenter. Over 100 castaways have appeared on the show twice, including actress Joanna Lumley, who was Sir Michael’s guest in 1987 and Young’s in 2007. “I loved Plomley’s rather stilted format,” says Lumley. “He’d say, ‘Would you be able to build your own shelter?’ These things always came in. ‘Would you be able to fish?’ The sense was always that it was linked to the island.

It embodied that other era of English questioning, which was never probing, but it would expect you maybe to reveal a bit more about yourself by saying, ‘Yes, I could tap a little shed together I think.’ Now it’s become a much more open interview about one’s life. Nobody’s ever asked now if they can swim.” Sir Terry Wogan is one of the much smaller number of castaways who have been on the show three times. He made his first appearance, with Plomley, in 1983 (or, as Sir Terry self-deprecatingly puts it, “just after the Peninsular War”). “Plomley was a very sweet man, a really nice, charming man,” says Sir Terry, “which is why the thing was so successful. It’s always been a successful format because they’ve picked the people who do the interviews mainly on their charm, I would say – it’s not meant to be confrontational, it’s supposed to be a light-hearted thing. I had Plomley, and then Sue Lawley, and then the wee Scots girl.

If anybody’s going to worm your more intimate secrets out of you, then Kirsty is the girl.” Jaw-dropping moments over the 70 years have included Diana Mosely’s assertion that six million Jews did not die in the Holocaust – “I know it was much, much less”, Debbie Harry’s regret at not having children and Yoko Ono’s revelation that she nearly aborted her son, Sean. Dame Joan Bakewell, who has also been the castaway twice, says that Young is a “thorough, and particularly skilled” interviewer. “She’d done her homework, quite extensively, but then she’d given it some thought,” says Dame Joan. “Perhaps it was empathy with another woman. But then, when I hear her interview other castaways, I’m always impressed with the way she seems to evoke from them things that are of interest, and that might not have occurred to just a routine interviewer. And it made the actual course of my interview very revealing for me, talking about myself.” Jimmy Mulville, the TV producer behind Have I Got News for You, says that he didn’t expect to talk about his father’s suicide – until Kirsty started asking the questions.

“She’s a very warm person in that little booth, and she listens to what you’re saying,” says Mulville. “You do feel as though you’re being listened to, and so it’s very comforting and warm, and I felt very safe with her, which is probably why I spilled the beans.” Perhaps even more powerfully as a loosener of celebrity tongues, being invited on to Desert Island Discs is still a rare honour. (One which Ed Miliband, tellingly, still hasn’t received.) Lumley says that, when she received her first invitation to appear on the programme, she “felt as though some glittering coronet had been placed on my head”. Mulville puts it rather more pithily. “It was one of the nicest mornings I’ve ever spent,” he says. “I was listening to my choice of music, being talked to by an attractive woman and talking about myself endlessly.

It doesn’t get any better than that.” Desert Island Discs celebrates 70 years of books, music and bizarre luxuries | Television & radio | The Guardian Desert Island Discs Desert Island Discs celebrates 70 years of books, music and bizarre luxuries Sir David Attenborough marks anniversary with fourth appearance on radio show, which has seen requests for a blow-up doll and suicide pills Roy Plomley, the creator and original presenter of the Desert Island Discs. He was followed by Michael Parkinson, Sue Lawley and the current presenter, Kirsty Young. Photograph: John Downing/Getty Images Friday 27 January 2012 05.28 EST First published on Friday 27 January 2012 05.28 EST Close This article is 4 years old When radio presenter Roy Plomley came up with the idea for Radio 4's Desert Island Discs on a cold November night in 1941, on his way to bed and already in his pyjamas, he envisaged a series of six programmes. They began on 27 January the following year, 70 years ago this weekend.

The show, which bases interviews with public figures around eight musical choices, a book and a luxury, is now the world's longest-running factual radio programme. Unlike The Archers, which slipped up by over-hyping its 60th anniversary edition last year and killing off a popular character, Desert Island Discs is sticking to what it knows for its 70th, welcoming Sir David Attenborough back for a fourth appearance. Only Arthur Askey has matched that and Attenborough is a fitting choice for the 70th anniversary: a national treasure with a career of impressive longevity, just like the show itself. Its appeal lies largely in a deceptively simple format – in talking about a fantasy island and their music selections, guests relax and reveal aspects of themselves – and a seemingly unchanging quality, underlined by the fact that it has only had four main presenters.

Plomley quizzed castaways for 43 years until his death in 1985, lunching before the recordings with the guest at his club, the Garrick (another club was used for female guests), and dealing with any anomalies in record choices, he explained in a Radio 4 documentary made for the 50th anniversary , by taking castaways across the road to the pub for "a couple of large gins". The format and tone has quietly evolved over the years. The original didn't feature books or luxury items, with these added in 1951. Actor Sally Ann Howes chose garlic as the first luxury, a more prosaic choice than many that would follow: a blow-up doll (Oliver Reed), Michael Palin, stuffed (John Cleese), solar-powered vibrator (Cornelia Parker), mirror (Simon Cowell, Graham Norton), navel brush (Frank Muir), suicide pill (Peter Nichols, Stephen Fry, Lynn Barber), and happiness. The latter, requested by Brigitte Bardot, caused Plomley momentary consternation; it sounded as if she was asking for "a penis".

When Michael Parkinson took over from Plomley, he changed the interview so that guests heard their music choices rather than having them edited in. Plomley's widow, Diana, was said to find his style too slick, and Parkinson only hosted the show for two years. She was even more scathing about Sue Lawley's 18-year tenure, claiming that the presenter had "an extraordinary obsession with other people's sex lives". This followed Lawley's 1996 interview with the then unmarried shadow chancellor, Gordon Brown, in which she said: "People want to know whether you're gay or whether there's some flaw in your personality that you haven't made a relationship?" Lawley was host for the most controversial guest, Lady Diana Mosley in 1989, in which Mosley described Hitler as "fascinating" and challenged Lawley's assertion that the Nazis had murdered six million Jews. "Oh no, I don't think it was that many," Mosley replied. There was a long, icy pause.

"Tell us about your fifth record, Lady Mosley." Since taking over as host in 2006, Kirsty Young's time on the programme has been largely controversy-free, apart from some grumblings that Gok Wan was too populist a choice of guest. However, Young is widely credited with reinvigorating the programme, with her warm yet searching questions producing especially captivating editions with Kathy Burke, Mark Gatiss, Betty Driver and Morrissey. The latter's encounter was voted second best broadcast interview of all time in a Radio Times poll last year, pipped by David Frost interviewing Richard Nixon . The programme's core strength is that it's a gentle listen, but one in which guests give us a strong sense of what they're really like. This might be through their musical selections – soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf famously chose seven of her own performances –or how they weave their life story around them. The tone may be pretty relaxed, but like the programme's theme tune, it's not quite what it seems. Eric Coates composed By the Sleepy Lagoon in 1930, and it's now synonymous with being transported to a tropical island.

In fact, he wrote the music while looking out over Bognor Regis. Similarly, Young will be welcoming and respectful to Attenborough on Sunday, but no pushover. Expect a question or two about those polar bear cubs featured on Frozen Planet that were filmed in a German zoo. The lagoon show | Comment | The Observer The Observer Profile The lagoon show Sixty years ago this week, the beguiling tones of 'By The Sleepy Lagoon' launched an institution. Since then, the great, the good and some Prime Ministers have let it lull them into a gentle confessional: Desert Island Discs Sue Arnold The Observer Bognor, as far as we know, is famous for two things - George V's dying words 'Bugger Bognor' and 'By The Sleepy Lagoon', the signature tune of Desert Island Discs, radio's favourite and longest-running entertainment programme, inspired by a view from that less than glamorous seaside town. Two seconds into the familiar melody - the combination of sweeping strings, seagulls and spray never fails - and you can feel the sand beneath your toes as you run towards the nearest palm tree where your pile of eight carefully chosen records waits, neatly stacked.

On Wednesday evening a line-up of famous castaways, both on stage and off, will celebrate the programme's sixtieth birthday at a gala evening in the Royal Festival Hall, London, introduced by Sue Lawley who has been the programme's presenter since 1988. Apart from the additional choice of a luxury in 1951 and a book in 1958 (television chef Jamie Oliver said recently he'd skip the book because he didn't read) the format of the programme has remained unchanged since its creator, Roy Plomley, first presented it in 1942. You can see why. It's simple, it's revealing, it's entertaining and it works. As the man said, if it ain't broke don't fix it. Over the years Desert Island Discs has taken its share of critical knocks and sustained the odd dent but it's always kept going. In 1994, when newsreader Trevor McDonald was invited to be on the show the Commission for Racial Equality cottoned on to the fact that, out of the many hundreds of guests who had been featured in the series, he was only the tenth non-white participant.

The tally till then was five blacks (Shirley Bassey, Joan Armatrading, Dizzie Gillespie, Jesse Norman and Frank Bruno), and four Asians (Ravi Shankar, Salman Rushdie, Imran Khan and photographer Mohamed Amin). Was this really representative of a liberal, non-racist society? the CRE complained. Several times during her stewardship Lawley has been criticised for being too intrusive and too political. Was it necessary, or indeed seemly, listeners protested, for her to elicit the confession from Chancellor Gordon Brown that he wasn't gay? It says much for Lawley's interviewing skills that she never actually asked him if he were. There's more than one way of skinning a cat, and sympathetic charm is Lawley's way. The one time she lost the merest smidgen of her famously professional cool was when she was asking Sir Oswald Mosley's widow, Diana, Nazi sympathiser and personal friend of Adolf Hitler, about the holocaust. Lady Mosley had been describing at some length the extraordinary blueness of the Führer's eyes, which she had first noticed when they were staying at his home. But what about the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis, asked Lawley.

'Oh no, I don't think it was as many as that,' protested Lady Mosley. 'I know it was much, much less.' Pause, longish pause and then: 'Tell us about your fifth record, Lady Mosley.' It was a great radio moment. Considering the kudos attached to being a Desert Island Discs guest, it isn't that difficult to qualify for that coveted slot in the hammock swinging between the two palm trees. Other radio interview programmes demand far more taxing criteria of their guests. Unless she publicly bludgeoned Lord Sainsbury to death with a rolling pin it's unlikely that Delia Smith would ever wind up In The Psychiatrist's Chair opposite Professor Anthony Clare, or On The Ropes with John Humphrys. And the chances of Sir Alex Ferguson being invited on to Radio 3's Private Passions to discuss his musical preferences with Michael Berkeley are remote. It's much easier to get on to DID; you don't even have to be famous, just good at something. A lot of people have been invited not just once but twice, three times or even, as in comedian Arthur Askey's case, four times to reminisce about their lives and spin their eight discs.

Do we really need three repeat performances of his acting career from John Mills or Peter Ustinov? You could be forgiven at times like these for thinking that the bottom of the talent barrel had been well and truly scraped. Roy Plomley's talent was his ability to recognise how much a person's musical taste can accurately reveal about their character. The fact that he happened to be a radio presenter and this was the perfect vehicle for a radio programme was a bonus. But Plomley was a little too eager to accommodate his guests, especially if they were royal or titled. You could almost hear him touching his forelock when he asked Princess Margaret if Her Royal Highness would care to explain why she had chosen that particular song by Herman's Hermits. HRH said that she'd heard it on the car radio one after noon when she was sitting in a traffic jam on her way home to Kensington Palace and had quite liked it. Fascinating, breathed Plomley, absolutely fascinating. By rights, then, it should have been enjoyable when film director Otto Preminger was so rude to his host that most of his remarks had to be edited out.

'I see I am embarrassing you,' Preminger said, 'because your face has gone bright red and your bald head is sweating.' Plomley had the last laugh. All Preminger's music came from films he had directed and his choice of book was his own autobiography. It wasn't Elizabeth Schwarzkopf who asked for a mirror - her vanity came out in other ways: most of her records were acclaimed Schwarzkopf performances. Seven of Rex Harrison's records on the other hand were Benny Goodman tracks. 'I'm sorry about this,' he told Plomley, 'but I just love jazz.' His one non-Goodman track was Mozart. 'And if you could only take one, which would it be?' came the usual question. Mozart, said Harrison. Numerous lists have been compiled over the years about the castaways' preferred composers, singers, books and luxuries. Taken en masse they're pretty unadventurous.

The last movement of Beethoven's Ninth, 'The Ode to Joy', has been top of the classical pops for yonks followed closely by the adagio from Schubert's C-Major quintet (Nazi chief Reinhard Heydrich's favourite piece of music) and a clutch of concertos - Mozart's clarinet, Bruch's violin, Elgar's cello - which are not that much different from Classic FM's easy breakfast play-list. The Beatles topped the pop chart. Everyone regardless of their age remembers growing up with a particular Beatles song. Here's a surprise: Paul McCartney, DID's fortieth birthday guest, asked for a guitar as his luxury. It's the individual musical choices and combinations that say so much about the guests. Arthur Scargill wasn't a bully, he was a sentimental old teddy-bear - look at his music, the 'Chorus of Hebrew Slaves' followed by Elvis singing 'Old Shep', a lament to his sheepdog.

With some notable exceptions the luxuries too are pretty conventional; typewriters, paintbrushes, computers, pianos (but not grand pianos insisted Plomley, playing strictly to the rules because you could use them as shelters), champagne, hot baths. Sue Lawley as castaway asked for an iron, an ironing board and pure linen sheets. Russell Harty wanted a flagpole flying the Union Jack, Umberto Eco the New York telephone directory. When the programme is finished the recording is taken down to the BBC sound archives, stripped of its music and the remaining minutes of relaxed, unguarded, at times down-right confessional, warts-and-all conversation is carefully filed under the guest's name. No other programme offers quite the same honest character assessment. That's Island magic for you.

Conceived: 3 November 1941 (first broadcast in 1942) VIP guests: Royalty, the titled and five Prime Ministers Odd luxuries: An inflatable doll for Oliver Reed; John Cleese wanted Michael Palin Sixty years of Desert Island Discs tbshsspeakingandlistening | Just another WordPress.com site tbshsspeakingandlistening The Guardian , Friday 27 January 2012 Roy Plomley, the creator and original presenter of the Desert Island Discs. He was followed by Michael Parkinson, Sue Lawley and the current presenter, Kirsty Young. Photograph: John Downing/Getty Images When radio presenter Roy Plomley came up with the idea for Radio 4 ‘s Desert Island Discs on a cold November night in 1941, on his way to bed and already in his pyjamas, he envisaged a series of six programmes. They began on 27 January the following year, 70 years ago this weekend. The show, which bases interviews with public figures around eight musical choices, a book and a luxury, is now the world’s longest-running factual radio programme.

Unlike The Archers, which slipped up by over-hyping its 60th anniversary edition last year and killing off a popular character, Desert Island Discs is sticking to what it knows for its 70th, welcoming Sir David Attenborough back for a fourth appearance. Only Arthur Askey has matched that and Attenborough is a fitting choice for the 70th anniversary: a national treasure with a career of impressive longevity, just like the show itself. Its appeal lies largely in a deceptively simple format – in talking about a fantasy island and their music selections, guests relax and reveal aspects of themselves – and a seemingly unchanging quality, underlined by the fact that it has only had four main presenters. Plomley quizzed castaways for 43 years until his death in 1985, lunching before the recordings with the guest at his club, the Garrick (another club was used for female guests), and dealing with any anomalies in record choices, he explained in a Radio 4 documentary made for the 50th anniversary , by taking castaways across the road to the pub for “a couple of large gins”. The format and tone has quietly evolved over the years.

The original didn’t feature books or luxury items, with these added in 1951. Actor Sally Ann Howes chose garlic as the first luxury, a more prosaic choice than many that would follow: a blow-up doll (Oliver Reed), Michael Palin, stuffed (John Cleese), solar-powered vibrator (Cornelia Parker), mirror (Simon Cowell, Graham Norton), navel brush (Frank Muir), suicide pill (Peter Nichols, Stephen Fry, Lynn Barber), and happiness. The latter, requested by Brigitte Bardot, caused Plomley momentary consternation; it sounded as if she was asking for “a penis”. When Michael Parkinson took over from Plomley, he changed the interview so that guests heard their music choices rather than having them edited in. Plomley’s widow, Diana, was said to find his style too slick, and Parkinson only hosted the show for two years. She was even more scathing about Sue Lawley’s 18-year tenure, claiming that the presenter had “an extraordinary obsession with other people’s sex lives”.

This followed Lawley’s 1996 interview with the then unmarried shadow chancellor, Gordon Brown, in which she said: “People want to know whether you’re gay or whether there’s some flaw in your personality that you haven’t made a relationship?” Lawley was host for the most controversial guest, Lady Diana Mosley in 1989, in which Mosley described Hitler as “fascinating” and challenged Lawley’s assertion that the Nazis had murdered six million Jews. “Oh no, I don’t think it was that many,” Mosley replied. There was a long, icy pause. “Tell us about your fifth record, Lady Mosley.” Since taking over as host in 2006, Kirsty Young ‘s time on the programme has been largely controversy-free, apart from some grumblings that Gok Wan was too populist a choice of guest. However, Young is widely credited with reinvigorating the programme, with her warm yet searching questions producing especially captivating editions with Kathy Burke, Mark Gatiss, Betty Driver and Morrissey. The latter’s encounter was voted second best broadcast interview of all time in a Radio Times poll last year, pipped by David Frost interviewing Richard Nixon .

The programme’s core strength is that it’s a gentle listen, but one in which guests give us a strong sense of what they’re really like. This might be through their musical selections – soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf famously chose seven of her own performances –or how they weave their life story around them. The tone may be pretty relaxed, but like the programme’s theme tune, it’s not quite what it seems. Eric Coates composed By the Sleepy Lagoon in 1930, and it’s now synonymous with being transported to a tropical island. In fact, he wrote the music while looking out over Bognor Regis. Similarly, Young will be welcoming and respectful to Attenborough on Sunday, but no pushover. Expect a question or two about those polar bear cubs featured on Frozen Planet that were filmed in a German zoo. BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs - Frequently Asked Questions Frequently Asked Questions Frequently Asked Questions Why can't I hear all the programmes? More than 1450 programmes - from 1951 to the present day - are now available on the website. These include the vast majority of programmes presented by Roy Plomley, the show’s creator.

Unfortunately some programmes were never archived or may be missing for legal or other reasons. The first Desert Island Discs was broadcast in 1942 when most radio programmes were live and generally not recorded. In the decades that followed many programmes were not retained in the archives because the cost of keeping (and storing) the discs on which they were recorded was high. As broadcasting technology developed, 1/4 inch tape was used to record the interviews, but even then the cost was so great that often the tapes were reused to record other programmes. It may be that the Desert Island Discs archive will never be complete, but if you have access to any recordings of programmes broadcast particularly pre-1976 that you cannot see on our site now, we would be very pleased to hear from you. Please email us via the Contact Us form which you can find on every castaway page. How can I search the site? There are several options. You can browse by castaway name, date of broadcast, occupation-type, presenter-name (Roy Plomley, Michael Parkinson, Sue Lawley or Kirsty Young), gender or a combination of all of those. You can also use the search box.

You can search the entire archive at once, or just search for castaway names, music choices, books & authors or luxury items. The data for every Desert Island Disc programme broadcast since 1942 is published on the site. For more information about how the site developed, see Making the Archive. Searching for music tracks & composers – how do I get best results? As with all search engines, the more complete the information you enter, the better the results will be. When searching for music, you'll return the best results if you start by searching for the name of an artist or composer. We’ve formatted the description of classical tracks beginning with ‘symphony, concerto, sonata, cantanta’ etc and then followed that with the number, movement etc. So if you’re looking for a particular symphony, you will need to enter the words ‘Beethoven symphony 9’ rather than the phrase ‘Beethoven’s 9th’. Why can’t I hear the music choices of the castaways? Given the rights position and the number of tracks chosen by our castaways so far – in excess of 22,400 – we’re not able to provide samples of the music choices.

Why are some of the tracks shorter in the downloadable version? At the moment, our agreements with copyright holders mean we can only include shortened versions of tracks in downloadable versions of our programmes. For musical choices we can include up to 1’00” of classical or jazz tracks and up to 0’30” of commercial recordings. In addition, we do not have the rights to certain speech extracts, particularly sports commentary. Why have some of the castaway’s choices been edited out of the original programme? Again, it’s a matter of our rights agreements. In some instances, particularly with sports commentaries, we’re unable to rebroadcast the Castaway’s choice of extract in either the downloadable or the on-demand version. Can I listen to Desert Island Discs on my mobile phone? Yes, you can visit a mobile version of this site on any smartphone, or mobile phone with a web browser. Just like the desktop website, you can find out what every castaway has chosen. Most smartphones will allow you to listen to the programmes, or download them. Data charges may apply when listening over the internet. Please visit BBC Mobile Help for more information. Why are the audio versions of the programme on the mobile site edited versions?

For technical reasons, the version of the programme you’ll hear via the mobile site is the shorter, edited version. We are working to offer the longer version on mobiles. Why isn’t the information about each castaway up-to-date? The information is part of the Desert Island Discs archive and was sourced from the original material which was written about each programme at the time of broadcast. We are using the words that were written to promote, describe or introduce the programme at the time, taken from various databases and (some defunct) online systems and from the BBC archives. The editorial principle underpinning the website is that every piece of data is part of the overall Desert Island Disc archive, and much of what was said captures a particular moment in the castaway’s life which puts the interview itself in the context of the time it was recorded. In addition, updating the information would have been an on-going project that required considerable resources. Why aren’t there images for every castaway? We'd love to have a suitable image for every castaway but it hasn’t been possible to source a high quality digital image for everyone yet.

However, if you are a castaway for whom we don’t have an image, and might be able to provide us with one, please contact us via the Contact Us form. How were the Occupation and Luxury categories decided? Decisions about how to group our castaways were based on the occupations of those who have appeared on the programme. Some occupations are better represented than others, and others feature more in the early years than they do now, reflecting how society has changed since the programme began. It was a challenge to coherently group the eclectic mix of luxuries chosen by Desert Island Discs guests and this caused much debate. It is obviously unscientific but at least provides some options for comparing one castaway’s choices with another. How can I point out that there’s something missing or incorrect on the site? With a data-rich site like Desert Island Discs there are bound to be elements of the data that are incorrect or missing. In some cases, people may disagree with the decisions we’ve taken about how to name musicians and musical tracks. However we have tried, as far as possible, to standardise the naming and formatting of track descriptions in order to maximise the efficiency of the search facility.

We'd very much like to hear if you discover any information that is factually incorrect or missing on the site. Please use the contact us form. How can I contact the programme? If you’d like to bring something about this site to our attention, there is a contact us form on every page of the website. All emails will be read but we can’t undertake to answer every one individually. If you wish to report a fault, mistake or broken link on our website, please use the contact us form. Desert Island Discs at 70 - Telegraph TV and Radio Desert Island Discs at 70 On Sunday 29 January, Radio 4's Desert Island Discs is 70 years old. Gillian Reynolds examines the reasons behind its enduring appeal Roy Plomley, creator of Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, and its first presenter By Gillian Reynolds 1:00PM GMT 27 Jan 2012 Desert Island Discs has become that rare thing, a shared cultural assumption.

First heard on January 29, 1942, in war time, with all information officially restricted and radio as the sole means of broadcasting, it thrives 70 years on when everything from solid fact to gossamer gossip is instantly available. Why would anyone these days want to hear which eight records some person would choose if, hypothetically, they were to be cast away? Records themselves are almost extinct. Even the means of playing them are more often seen in museums than shops. Desert Island MP3s, anyone? I think not. Something magical is at work here. It goes deeper than publicity. Crafty old BBC radio, itself turning 90 this year, has grabbed the DID brand and is plugging it madly after a battle to get it onto digital Radio 4 Extra (royalties needing to be paid on the music). It’s there now, every week, alongside “historic” editions from the past plus its own website.

On Saturday 28th January, Castaway: 70 Years of Desert Island Discs, features past presenters Michael Parkinson (1985-88) and Sue Lawley (1988-2006) alongside current host Kirsty Young (2006-) talking about the programme that the late Roy Plomley invented and hosted for 43 years. Yet no amount of brand exploitation can account for its endurance, its niche in the broadcasting pantheon and public affection. What turned this simple idea into a classic? Asa Briggs’s magisterial history of the BBC records its survival into the television age and gives Plomley the credit for knowing “how to make it last” and ensuring its “solid institutional quality”. What made it an institution? It has changed over the years, its interviewing style altering with different presenters, but the range of guests has remained wide. Kirsty, just like Roy, (and Sue and Sir Michael) talks to stars of stage, screen, radio, the concert hall, the opera house and the sports field plus the occasional politician and the rare unfamous name.

Related Articles War Horse owes existence to Desert Island Discs 07 Jan 2012 On a good day, the music they choose reveals unexpected things about all of them, as does their choice of one book (apart from the Bible and Shakespeare which, as we know, are already on the island) and one luxury (no cats, dogs, husbands or any other animate thing and nothing of practical use, like a knife). I remember Enoch Powell choosing the Book of Common Prayer and Joan Collins requesting moisturiser. Didn’t Mo Mowlam pick the Jackson Five and Blame It On the Boogie? I remember David Mellor’s rueful chuckle as he told Sue Lawley about Mrs Thatcher saying he wasn’t clever enough to be a Treasury barrister. And why do I remember all this when other stuff vanishes? Perhaps, like everyone else who listens to Desert Island Discs, it’s because the instant mental reaction of “I didn’t expect that” is rapidly followed by “I wonder what I’d choose?” On descents into the labyrinth of the London Underground, I conquer escalator anxiety by pondering the eight records I’d have, which one would be the very favourite.

If River Deep – Mountain High is still in, where should it go in the running order? Will my single record be Bob Hope and Shirley Ross and Thanks for the Memory? Wouldn’t it be wiser to pick something I didn’t already know backwards? The book: is it Our Mutual Friend or Bradley’s Arnold Latin Prose Composition (and this time I’ll really take it seriously)? The luxury: a Persian carpet. My friend Pat Houlihan says she would pick the Albert Hall. We debate whether it would be allowed. I look at people in crowds, wondering how many of them are doing the same thing, discarding Peter Grimes in favour of Fidelio, going for Schwartzkopf over Lenya. A lot, I think. It isn’t Kirsty, Sue, Michael or even Roy that made Desert Island Discs an institution. It’s the shared fantasy, the one that gives us the same choices as all those stars who reached the desert island ahead of us. It’s a bit like a trial run for getting into heaven.

roy plomley : definition of roy plomley and synonyms of roy plomley (English) Early life Roy Plomley in the late 1930s presenting Radio Normandy Calling from the stage of the Hippodrome, Eastbourne. Plomley was the son of a pharmacist and was educated at King's College School, Wimbledon . On leaving school he worked first briefly for an estate agent, then for a London advertising agency, then in publishing. His original aim was to be an actor, and he did secure very minor parts in a number of films, but he soon drifted into broadcasting, coming to public notice as an announcer, and later producer, for the International Broadcasting Company (IBC), starting on Radio Normandy in April 1936 and moving on at the end of that year to the IBC's Paris-based station, Poste Parisien . Between mid-1937 and late 1939 he was involved in writing and production, travelling back and forth between these two IBC stations in France and the company's offices and studios in London, while also presenting the variety programme Radio Normandy Calling, recorded on location in theatres at UK seaside resorts and regularly beating the BBC in audience ratings.

[1] World War II This part of his career came to an abrupt end when commercial broadcasting from the continent was brought to a halt by World War II . Plomley and his new wife stayed on in Paris, only narrowly escaping back to the UK via a circuitous route through the chaos and panic of the Fall of France , losing all their possessions in the process, as German occupying forces approached the French capital in June 1940. [2] Desert Island Discs Then, in 1941, he devised the BBC Radio series Desert Island Discs . [3] It was created on a cold November evening whilst Plomley was contemplating ideas and deciding whether to retire to bed or not. In the cottage he was living in at the time at Little Bushey Lane, Bushey, Hertfordshire he wrote to Leslie Perowne, who was in charge of popular record programmes. He had a favourable reply and so, in his little back bedroom/study (still existing today) he set out his ideas with the names of personalities to be invited to participate. In those days of WWII every BBC Radio show was scripted by Plomley and submitted for censorship.

In January 1942 the first of a series of eight weekly programmes was broadcast. Each show consisted of an interview with a celebrity, interpersed by the guest's choice of music. His contract was renewed for a further 15 shows. In the end he presented 1,791 editions of the programme stretching over 43 years. Its success was attributed to his skill as an interviewer and to his meticulous research. [4] Plomley was succeeded as presenter by Michael Parkinson (1985-1988), then by Sue Lawley (1988-2006), and most recently by Kirsty Young . [3] Desert Island Discs is the second longest-running radio programme in the world (after the Grand Ole Opry ), and it is still running. Until late September 2009, unlike many other BBC radio programmes, Desert Island Discs was unavailable for Listen Again on the BBC website. This was because, when Roy Plomley devised the programme, he was a freelance producer, and it had been argued therefore, that the 'format rights' of the programme belonged to him rather than to the BBC.

At his death, those 'rights' passed to his wife and the BBC were subsequently unable to negotiate the right to include Desert Island Discs in their Listen Again offering. It was announced on September 27, 2009 that an agreement had been reached with the family and it would be available via the iPlayer. [5] Other work Plomley's broadcasting career was not restricted to Desert Island Discs; he also compiled and presented several feature programmes and was the chairman of BBC Radio's game show Many a Slip from 1964 to 1979, and a participant in such panel games as Does the Team Think?, also on BBC Radio. He also anchored Round Britain Quiz in 1961. For television he produced Dinner Date with Death in 1949, claimed to be the first UK film made for TV, and in the same year chaired We Beg to Differ on BBC Radio, transferring with it to BBC Television in 1951. [6] He also wrote the screenplay for the 1953 film The Blakes Slept Here . Plomley was awarded the OBE in 1975.

[3] He was Chairman of the Radio and Television Writers' Association, 1957-1959, and was voted BBC Radio Personality of the Year in 1979. He published 16 stage plays (one of which, Cold Turkey, was put on in the West End), and one novel. [7] He has been posthumously inducted into the Radio Academy 's Hall of Fame. [8] Plomley died in London from pleurisy in 1985 aged 71 and he is buried at Putney Vale Cemetery , London . References As Lawley sails away, Kirsty Young takes over as queen of the desert island | The Independent As Lawley sails away, Kirsty Young takes over as queen of the desert island Tuesday 27 June 2006 23:00 BST Click to follow The Independent Online The broadcaster Kirsty Young, anchor of Five News, has been confirmed as the next presenter of Desert Island Discs. The newsreader, who began her career as a radio trainee at BBC Scotland, will take up one of the most coveted positions in broadcasting in the autumn.

Desert Island Discs was first broadcast on 29 January 1942 and Young is only the programme's fourth presenter. Its creator, Roy Plomley, hosted the show from the outset until his death in 1985. Michael Parkinson presented the show for the next three years, handing over to Sue Lawley in 1988. Each week, a guest is invited to choose the eight pieces of music they would take with them if they were stranded on a remote island, as well as one book and one luxury item. But the real appeal of the show -which has "The Sleepy Lagoon" as its signature tune - lies in the subtly probing questions that the presenter puts to interviewees to illuminate their personality through their choice of music. "Castaways" have included the last five British prime ministers, Noel Coward, George Clooney, Stephen Hawking and Princess Margaret. Young said: "I've loved Desert Island Discs for as long as I've been listening to radio. Its enduring success is testament both to the brilliant format and consistently fascinating guests. "There isn't a show on radio I'd rather present.

I'm completely thrilled to be doing it and can't wait to get started." After working for BBC Scotland in Glasgow, Young joined Scottish Television as a newsreader and later fronted her own chat show, Kirsty. When she joined the fledgling Five News, Young pioneered the trend for perching on the news desk instead of sitting behind it. In 1999, she quit Five to present ITV News, but despite the higher audiences, she returned to her old job after two years. Young, 37, is married to Nick Jones, the owner of the Soho House private members' club empire, and is currently on maternity leave after giving birth to their second daughter. Mark Damazer, Radio 4's controller, said: "I'm delighted Kirsty Young will be taking over Desert Island Discs. I have admired her work on radio and television for a number of years. She combines warmth and curiosity - the perfect combination to make a success of the programme." Chris Shaw, the Five News chief, said: "We are delighted that Kirsty will be the new presenter of Desert Island Discs... I personally believe this will only enhance her reputation as a brilliant broadcaster.

She remains committed to the channel and will be returning as the main anchor for Five News in the next few weeks." Young was a surprise appointment. Martha Kearney, the Newsnight and Woman's Hour presenter, who was also passed over for the post of BBC political editor in favour of Nick Robinson, and the former Today presenter Sue MacGregor were both tipped for the job. Sue Lawley's last Desert Island Discs will be aired on 27 August shortly after her 60th birthday. When her departure was announced in April, she said it had been "one of the best jobs in broadcasting". "I've had more than 18 very happy years and have talked to some extraordinary people as they revealed themselves through their choice of music," she said. When Tony Blair appeared on the show shortly before his election victory in 1997, he was accused of "spin" in his music choice, which included Bruce Springsteen and Debussy. The Tory leader, David Cameron, recently appeared on the show. His selection included Bob Dylan's "Tangled Up In Blue", "This Charming Man" by the Smiths and "Ernie (the Fastest Milkman in the West)" by Benny Hill.

Stranded since 1942 * Desert Island Discs was created in 1942 by Roy Plomley and is the longest-running music radio programme in the world. * For the 'island', guests must choose one book: actor Colin Firth chose the Stories of Woody Allen while the ballerina Darcey Bussell chose a biography of Audrey Hepburn. * Michael Parkinson took over presenting it after Plomley's death. Sue Lawley has presented the show for the past 18 years. * While the past five prime ministers have been guests on Desert Island Discs, only John Major appeared while in office. He chose Lord's Cricket Ground as his luxury item. Sir Menzies Campbell wanted a set of golf clubs on his island.

Question: Roy Plomley was, in 1944, the creator and first presenter of which radio programme?
Answer: DESERT ISLAND DISCS